Markets wipe out opening gains to trade in red amid profit taking

Indian equity benchmarks started the session in green on Friday tracking mostly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. Soon, markets wiped out their gains and entered into red terrain to trade lower with marginal cut in early deals due to profit-booking owing to the extended weekend factor. Equity market will be closed for trading on Monday on account of Bakri Id holiday. Foreign fund outflows also dented sentiments. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers of stocks worth Rs 3,033 crore on June 13. Investors remained on sidelines ahead of Wholesale Price Index (WPI) data to be out later in the day. Traders overlooked credit rating agency Moody's Ratings’ statement that fuelled by domestic demand growth, India is expected to remain the region's fastest-growing economy in the Asia-Pacific region in the second half of the year 2024. The report also noted that India, Indonesia, and the Philippines were the key growth outperformers in the first half of the year 2024. 

On the global front, Asian markets are trading mixed amid fading hopes of a series of rate cuts by the US Fed after the central bank officials conservatively forecast just one rate cut this year in the post meeting comments. They said inflation has eased substantially in recent months but still remains too high. Back home, gaming industry stocks are in focus as the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council is likely to consider a review of 28% tax on online gaming and clarification on several procedural matters at its next meeting on June 22 in the national capital. In stocks specific development, Ambuja Cements trades higher after it got board’s approval to acquire Penna Cement Industries (PCIL) for an enterprise value of Rs 10,422 crore.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 76609.40, down by 201.50 points or 0.26% after trading in a range of 76549.19 and 77001.70. There were 8 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.45%, while Small cap index was up by 0.65%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.04%, Industrials up by 0.87%, Capital Goods up by 0.82%, Consumer Durables up by 0.75% and Oil & Gas up by 0.72%, while IT down by 0.56%, TECK down by 0.42%, Bankex down by 0.33%, Utilities down by 0.32% and Auto down by 0.05% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Titan Co up by 0.56%, Ultratech Cement up by 0.52%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 0.25%, Asian Paints up by 0.23% and Sun Pharma up by 0.21%. On the flip side, Tech Mahindra down by 1.31%, HCL technologies down by 1.04%, NTPC down by 0.91%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.88% and Wipro down by 0.85% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, expressing optimism over the country’s growth prospects, Moody’s Ratings has said India will remain the Asia-Pacific region’s fastest-growing economy in 2024, sustaining last year’s domestically driven momentum. In a report titled Credit Conditions – Asia-Pacific H2 2024 Credit Outlook, Moody’s Ratings said Indonesia, the Philippines and India led the way in terms of growth in first half of 2024 and should continue to outperform pre-COVID growth numbers on the back of rising exports, local demand and government spending on infrastructure.

It said ‘India will remain the region’s fastest-growing economy, sustaining last year’s domestically driven momentum. We anticipate policy continuity after the general election, and a continued focus on infrastructure development and encouragement of private sector investment’. It said stronger portfolio inflows are likely in India and ASEAN economies, because of robust corporate credit metrics and appealing valuations.

Recently, the rating agency projected India to grow 6.8 per cent in the current year, followed by 6.5 per cent in 2025, on the back of strong, economic expansion along with post-election policy continuity. India’s real GDP grew 7.7 per cent in 2023, up from 6.5 per cent in 2022, driven by robust capital spending by the government and strong manufacturing activity.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 23342.25, down by 56.65 points or 0.24% after trading in a range of 23334.25 and 23469.45. There were 18 stocks advancing against 32 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Grasim Industries up by 2.38%, Shriram Finance up by 2.00%, BPCL up by 1.32%, Eicher Motors up by 0.71% and HDFC Life Insurance up by 0.59%. On the flip side, Tech Mahindra down by 1.35%, HCL Technologies down by 1.09%, Wipro down by 0.99%, JSW Steel down by 0.99% and NTPC down by 0.91% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mixed; Hang Seng declined 121.59 points or 0.67% to 17,991.04, Jakarta Composite plunged 49.16 points or 0.72% to 6,782.40, Straits Times fell 16.77 points or 0.5% to 3,307.76 and Shanghai Composite was down by 11.25 points or 0.37% to 3,017.67. On the other hand, Nikkei 225 surged 216.89 points or 0.56% to 38,937.36, Taiwan Weighted rose 107.95 points or 0.48% to 22,419.99 and KOSPI was up by 9.22 points or 0.33% to 2,764.11.